Fish stringer



ec. 15, 1953 H. R. MILAN ETAL 2,662,257

FISH STRINGER Filed March 11, 1952 INVENTOR HORACE R. MILAN and OSWALDL. BLUEGE.

Patented Dec. 15, 1953 OFFICE FISH STRINGER fiorace Robert Milan andOswald L. Bluege,

Washington,'D. C.

Application March 11, 1952, Serial No. 275,866

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to fish stringers and has for its principalobject the provision of a particularly efficient stringer composed of aseries of independent fish holders in spaced relation on a spreaderdetachably secured to a length of chain having at or near its free endholding devices for fastening the fish stringer assembly to a portion ofa boat while fishing and for transporting the catch.

An important feature of the invention is the individual holder, each inthe preferred form consisting of a narrow central section connecting twobays or loops, one loop being swiveled to the wire spreader and theother including a free end normally ready to open to receive the fishbut resiliently movable toward the central portion where the free end iscaught in a cylindrical retainer, preferably formed by a simple coil ofwire and expanding to lie between the barrier bends of the centralportion joining the two loops.

The holders are extremely easy to use as the spring coil of wire may beonly slightly larger than the diameter of the wire, as the free ends ofthe wires are pointed and when the hook end is bent toward the centralportion the needle-like point of the hook penetrates within the coil ofthe spring and by its resilience pulls the end of the spring firmlyagainst the bottom of the central portion. The amount of latching isquite small, because of the pointed ends, and as a consequence, theamount of movement of the spring coil to release either end is alsoquite small.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a View of the complete stringer;

Figure 2 is a view of one of the double holders;

Figure 3 is a view of a single fish holder;

Figure 4 is a modification.

The spreader it may be formed of a single piece of wire bent into anumber of spaced rings H, each of which may receive a safety-pin typeretainer I2, carrying a double swivel connection is having eyes 85 andit, the latter fitting loosely one loop [3 of the holder. A securingring 26 centrally of the spreader H] is formed by twisting the wire ofthe spreader as at 2 I. The spreadno is joined to the chain 22 by meansof a clasp 23 and figure 8 swivel link 25. The free end of the chain maycarry a handle piece 25 of any desired type, and near this handle theusual snap fastener 27.

Referring particularly to Figure 2, the holder consists of a singlepiece of wire, one end portion of which is bent to form the loop l8 andthe other end portion forming the other or second loop 3t. Between theloops 1% and 30 there isa central portion 3|, the two margins of whichare formed by the bends 32 and33, which form parts of the two loops. thebight thus formed between the two equal sized loops l8 and is a T, theportion 3! being the top of the head of the T, the bends 32 and 33forming the sides of the head, and the sides 35 and 36 forming the stemof the T. The loop sides 37 and 38 are conveniently alined and thecurved outside portions 46 and il terminate parallel to the centralportion 3! and well short of each other. Both wire ends may be pointedand both free, or the terminal as may be permanently secured to theportion 31, thus making loop l8 a mere closed link. The beveled orotherwise pointed terminals of hook portions 38 and 4! are resilientlyheld quite far away from the central portion 3|, the more convenientlyto facilitate stringing the caught fish. These terminals when bent intoparallelism with the central portion 3! may be restrained by a latch ofa coil spring of wire 44, loosely expanded to engage both of the twofree ends of the wire. A gentle pressure axially on either end of thespring 441 will free the opposite hook terminal to or ll and allow it toopen wide.

When both pointed terminals are free at the same time, the spring id isquite loose on central portion SI and is shorter than the distancebetween the barrier bends 32 and 33. When one hook is free, the pointedend of the other hook anchors the spring to the portion 3!, just aboutcentrally thereof so a very slight lateral movement of the spring end isnecessary to latch the one hook that was free, or to release either whenboth are latched.

In Figure 3 a slightly modified form is shown, this being the so-calledsingle type. In this form the sides 32 and 35 are replaced by a singlearm 45, which, with the arcuate strands A l and 48 form an attachingloop. Since this attaching loop will only be opened quite rarely theterminal end 49 is provided with a chisel point and this may penetrateappreciably further into the spring i4, than does either needle point orthe preferred form shown in Figure 2.

In Figure 4, a lighter form of holder is shown. In this modification theattaching loop 556 is entirely closed. The terminal end 54 beingsoldered or otherwise secured to the central portion here numbered 52. Apin 53 has an eye as at one end and a head 55 at the other end, so thatthe pin is swiveled in the closed loop. The attaching loop is formed bya side 6! corresponding to 36 but in this case raising the cen- Theconfiguration of tral section into alinement with the pin 53. Thestraight side 62 of loop 60 is preferably alined with a side of loop 60.The side 63 makes an angle of about 60 with the side 62, and makes aright angle with the hook side 64, the latter having a slightly bentterminal 65, corresponding exactly to the needle point end of the hookside 4| in the preferred type.

What we claim is:

A holder unit to be secured with similar units to the spreader of a fishstringer, comprising a single strip of resilient wire bent into twospaced loops of equal size, symmetrically positioned withv respect to abight of a hollow T-shape, the head of the T being the central portionof the wire as well as the central portion of the holder unit;

Gil

impaling hook, said end lying parallel to the head of the T, andlatching means movable on said central portion adapted to surround andthereby latch the hook ends of the loops to said central portion to holdthe end in said normal position whereby as either loop, empty or havinga fish in it, is held in the palm of the fishermans hand, the thumb andthe forefinger of that hand may release the latched end of the oppositeloop to allow the outside portion to spring clear of the head of the Tfor convenient impaling of a fish held in the fishermans other hand.

HORACE ROBERT MILAN.

OSWALD L. BLUEGE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 312,105 Faivre Feb. 10, 1885 1,237,817 Ringle Aug. 21, 19172,155,987 Assaf Apr. 25, 1939

